3:01am

Trigger warning: implied racism

I'm not doing so well atm lol-

Au
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"Bye mom! Bye mama!" Patton called to his two mothers who both called out goodbyes too, one of them with tears in her eyes while the other gave her wife a side hug to comfort her. Today was the start of Patton's new school, they were both happy for him but nervous - will he be okay? Will he find friends? Will he be bullied? Many worries they have to deal with but Patton's mama was able to distract her wife when they arrived home. A nice date seeing as they haven't really had much time for themselves recently.

Although Patton was a little nervous himself he quickly overcame it, happily talking to teachers if they were to start conversation with him and being friendly to everyone he could which resulted in him sitting on a table with a bunch of children his age, they were all creating a piece of art out of pasta to bring home and stick on the fridge as a remembrance of their first day of school.

Patton finished his pretty quickly and moved around the classroom to help anyone who needed it, the teacher adored him for doing so, she could tell he was a kind-hearted soul.

Patton dropped everything, however, when he noticed a child on his own sitting far away across the classroom. He tried to get the teacher's attention on him but she brushed it off, telling him he wanted to be alone. Patton pushed his lips to the side, frowning. He didn't want him to be alone so with a determined nod he walked over hurriedly, sitting on the chair opposite him.

The boy in question had his head in his arms, face turned to look out the window, a distant look in his eyes.

"Hey!" Patton chirped, startling the boy who sat up quickly, Patton apologising afterwards.

"No, it's-it's fine" the boy whispered, lifting his hand to his mouth to chew his nail, the jacket he wore was quite baggy on him, pooling around his small frame, the sleeves coming far over his hands but he didn't seem to mind one bit. Maybe he even favoured it.

"I'm Patton!" He introduced, "what's your name?"

"Uh-Virgil" he replied quietly and Patton smiled.

"Why are you sitting on your own?" Patton asked, not entirely buying what the teacher had said. The boy shrugged, ducking his head shyly.

"No one likes me..." he finally managed, making Patton frown further, sitting up on his legs to be closer. "Why not?"

Virgil hesitated, watching Patton closely, almost carefully wondering if he would be like anyone else but when he couldn't see any bad intent he sighed, shrugging his shoulders loosely. "Because I'm black.." he answered lowly, nervously looking up at Patton who tilted his head to the side innocently.

"Oh" he mumbled, then shrugged, "I like you!" Patton was suddenly beaming and Virgil was taken back, looking at Patton impishly through his curly bangs that fell across his eyes. "Really?" He whispered and Patton nodded, telling him to wait one sec before leaving the table and rushing over to his original one, grabbing all the pasta he could with some glue and paper, bringing his art work over too and sitting opposite Virgil again, dropping everything onto the once empty table.

"Here, I'll help you" Patton handed Virgil a sharpened pencil and told him to draw out anything he wanted, he paused for a few moments to think, eventually drawing out a flower in the middle of the page, the stem going down to the bottom. Patton jumped up and down in his seat, praising Virgil that it looked amazing and he ducked his head shyly.

"Now just put glue onto the pasta" Patton showed, handing it over to him once he did, giggling when a string of glue stuck to his finger. "And put it on the outline of the flower!" Even if Virgil knew what to do he found Patton's explanations to be a show of friendship so he didn't mind, taking the pasta pieces from Patton after he would put a small dollop of glue onto it.

"How's it going?" The teacher asked when she walked over, watching Patton who grinned brightly. "Good! Virgil drew a flower!" Patton pointed and the teacher nodded, glancing at Virgil for a moment and he slowly sat back down in his seat, looking at Patton with a frown.

"Why don't you sit with the others, Pat? They were asking for you" the teacher smiled but suddenly Patton didn't like her smile as much. "No.." he shook his head, "I'm fine with Virgil" to prove his point he held the boy's hand tightly over the sleeve, smiling at his new friend who timidly smiled back.

"If you're sure" the teacher mumbled, not giving either another glance before going off to another table. Patton chewed his lip, not really entirely understanding the situation but not liking it one bit.

"C'mon, let's finish!" Patton quickly moved back onto the pasta and while Virgil didn't smile as often as before the teacher came Patton was still happy that he was happy.

When the bell rang Patton and Virgil carried their drawings to the rack where they were left to dry, "Patton! Come sit with us!" A girl called to the boy who was grabbing his lunch box with Virgil. "Wanna come?" He asked his new friend who drew a slight step back, eyes glancing at the group of kids who called to Patton.

"Don't bring him with you!" Another kid called and Patton frowned, turning to stare at the kids. "Leave us alone!" He called, grabbing Virgil's hand and rushing to the opposite end of the room, sitting beside him on their table and smiling at him gently.

"I don't like them" he confirmed with a nod and Virgil smiled a tad, placing his box onto the table beside Patton's that was much more colourful.

As they ate Patton talked a mile a minute about anything he could, barely noticing the fact Virgil's lunchbox only had a sandwich and an apple while his had much more. When he finished and Patton was still eating, he grabbed a chocolate bar, cookies and his container of strawberries, sliding them over to Virgil who looked at it, confused.

"You didn't have much" Patton explained, pointing to the food again. "Oh" Virgil chewed his nail awkwardly, "my dad didn't have much" Virgil then explained quietly.

"It's okay! We can share" Patton encouraged, picking up the chocolate bar and putting it into his hand. Virgil was still hesitant but he ate the food anyway, thanking Patton sincerely who merely smiled and told him; 'that's what friends do!'

"We're friends?" Virgil asked, shocked. Patton nodded hurriedly.

"Yep! Best friends" Patton confirmed and Virgil felt his heart swell with joy.

At the end of the day Patton skipped out the building with Virgil in tow, their hands intertwined as they walked on by other kids who were running up to their parents to tell them about their first day in school.

"Is your dad here?" Patton asked, spotting his mothers who were quickly climbing out of their car.

"He said he'd be a bit late.." Virgil responded and Patton nodded, "okay!"

"Patton! Honey, how was it?" His mom asked, kneeling on the ground before him and bringing him into a hug. Patton used one arm to return the affection, not wanting to let go of Virgil.

"It was good! This is Virgil, my best friend!" Patton looked at Virgil who was shyly hiding himself in his jacket, gripping Patton's hand tighter.

"Aw, hey Virgil" his mom waved slightly and Virgil met her gaze for a moment, turning back to Patton without saying a word. "He's shy" his mom smiled, reaching over and rubbing his shoulder affectionately. Virgil first tensed at the contact but quickly relaxed, managing another glance in her direction.

"I'm waiting with Virgil" Patton then told his parents who chuckled.

"Are you now? Why's that?" His mama asked, helping her wife to her feet.

"Cus' his dad's gonna take awhile to get here!" Patton responded, taking Virgil over to the nearby bench and sitting down with him. His parents chuckled again but didn't protest, sitting on the wall beside them and talking quietly.

"You don't have to" Virgil mumbled but Patton was adamant. "I do! It's what best friends do!" He concluded and Virgil couldn't exactly argue. A full ten minutes passed, Patton and Virgil playing eye spy throughout while Patton's parents became increasingly worried, wondering where Virgil's parents could be.

Five minutes gone until a car pulled up and a tall man stumbled out, closing the door and dropping his keys in the process. "Dad!" Virgil called out, wanting to run over but not wanting to leave Patton's side.

The man looked up and waved, jogging across the car park and onto the pavement. "Virgil, hey, sorry I was late, work held me back" he then noticed Patton and the two woman, "this is Patton" Virgil looked over to his friend who waved up at his dad cutely.

"He's my-...friend" Virgil smiled at the word and so did his dad, joyous his son managed to make a friend, he was quite shy.

"That's how I know you!" Patton's mom suddenly burst, jumping down from the wall, "you recently moved into our street, didn't you?"

The man nodded, awkwardly putting his keys into his pockets, almost missing entirely. "Aw, if you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask!" Virgil's dad seemed surprised at her generosity, asking if she was sure to which she nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! And hey, we can even drive Virgil home if you're too busy" she offered and Virgil's dad looked eternally grateful.

While the adults spoke some more, Patton turned to Virgil. "I like your dad" he grinned and Virgil smiled right back, "I do too" he nodded, the two boys giggling afterwards.

"See you tomorrow Virgil and Virgil's dad!" Patton called to the two while skipping over to his car with his mothers who were both waving too.

"Bye, Patton!" Virgil called, holding onto his dad's hand, heading to their car too.

"Told you you'd make friends" his dad teased and Virgil groaned a little, "shut up, dad" he murmured, yelping when he was suddenly lifted and thrown over his dad's shoulder.

"What was that?" He asked playfully, smiling at the sound of Virgil's laughter.

He couldn't be more happy Virgil made a friend that day.

Truly a friend for life.

—
Hmmm I like this AU v v much and I really should do more of it

I hope you enjoyed

3:58am